alcohol is a drug — the most commonly used and widely abused psychoactive drug in the world.
Alcoholism is a disease — a chronic, progressive, fatal disease if not treated.
Short Term Effects
Even at low doses, alcohol significantly impairs the judgment and coordination required to drive a car or operate machinery safely. Low to moderate doses of alcohol can also increase the incidence of a variety of aggressive acts, including domestic violence and child abuse.
Effects of moderate alcohol intake include dizziness and talkativeness. The immediate effects of a larger amount of alcohol include slurred speech, disturbed sleep, nausea, and vomiting. "Hangovers" are another effect after large amounts of alcohol are consumed — symptoms including headache, nausea, thirst, dizziness, and fatigue.
Long Term Effects
Prolonged, heavy use of alcohol can lead to addiction (alcoholism). Sudden cessation of long term, extensive alcohol intake is likely to produce withdrawal symptoms, including severe anxiety, tremors, hallucinations, and convulsions.
Long-term effects of consuming large quantities of alcohol can lead to:
• permanent damage to vital organs
• several different types of cancer
• gastrointestinal irritations, such as nausea, diarrhea, and ulcers
• malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies
• sexual dysfunctions
• high blood pressure
• lowered resistance to disease
Mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy may give birth to infants with fetal alcohol syndrome. These infants may suffer from mental retardation and other irreversible physical abnormalities. In addition, research indicates that children of alcoholic parents are at greater risk than other children of becoming alcoholics.
Federal Classification
Alcohol is a legal purchased product for adults.
Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Addiction
• Alcohol availability is closely related to violent assaults. Communities and neighborhoods that have more bars and liquor stores per capita experience more assaults. 1
• Alcohol use is frequently associated with violence between intimate partners. Two-thirds of victims of intimate partner violence reported that alcohol was involved in the incident. 2
• In one study of interpersonal violence, men had been drinking in an estimated 45 percent of cases and women had been drinking in 20 percent of cases. 3
• Women whose partners abused alcohol were 3.6 times more likely than other women to be assaulted by their partners. 4
• In 1997, 40 percent of convicted rape and sexual assault offenders said that they were drinking at the time of their crime. 5
• In 2002, more than 70,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 were victims of alcohol-related sexual assault in the U.S. 6
• In those violent incidents recorded by the police in which alcohol was a factor, about nine percent of the offenders and nearly 14 percent of the victims were under age 21. 7
• Twenty-eight percent of suicides by children ages nine to 15 were attributable to alcohol. 8
• An estimated 480,000 children are mistreated each year by a caretaker with alcohol problems. 9
Alcohol Statistics
More than 100,000 U.S. deaths are caused by excessive alcohol consumption each year. Direct and indirect causes of death include drunk driving, cirrhosis of the liver, falls, cancer, and stroke.1
65% of youth surveyed said that they got the alcohol they drink from family and friends.7
Nearly 14 million Americans meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorders.5
Youth who drink alcohol are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than those who never drink alcohol.3
More than 18% of Americans experience alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence at some time in their lives.6
Traffic crashes are the greatest single cause of death for persons aged 6–33. About 45% of these fatalities are in alcohol-related crashes.4
Underage drinking costs the United States more than $58 billion every year — enough to buy every public school student a state-of-the-art computer.2
Alcohol is the most commonly used drug among young people.1
Problem drinkers average four times as many days in the hospital as nondrinkers — mostly because of drinking-related injuries.1
Alcohol kills 6½ times more youth than all other illicit drugs combined.2
Concerning the past 30 days, 50% of high school seniors report drinking, with 32% report being drunk at least once.2
Sources
1 Substance Abuse: The Nation's Number One Health Problem, Feb. 2001
2 Mothers Against Drunk Driving
3 National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
4 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
5 Alcohol Health & Research World
6 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Analysis
7 The Century Council
